News Currents

ByDavid MutchMay 26, 1992

The slow response of the Los Angeles Police Department during the early hours of the riots three weeks ago was caused, in part, by a lack of basic equipment, the Los Angeles Times reported. Transcripts from the city's Emergency Command Center indicate the department could not secure basic needs such as squad cars, telephones, and radios as killing, looting, and fires hit the city.... New York City's economy could lose $200 million in revenues and nearly 2,300 jobs as four UN agencies consider leaving the

city, Crain's New York Business newspaper said yesterday.... Canada Sunday ordered some Yugoslav diplomats to leave the country, canceled flights from Belgrade, and recalled its ambassador to protest Serbian aggression in Bosnia-Herzegovina.... Texas is starting up its first lottery this Friday. Millions of people are expected to try for the game's $1 million jackpot, with odds at 25 million to 1. ECONOMY AND BUSINESS

OPEC's decision to boost oil production by only a modest 481,000 barrels a day will likely push prices up to the target of $21 a barrel or beyond, the Middle East Economic Survey reported yesterday.... Trade between Taiwan and China through Hong Kong surged 37.9 percent from a year earlier to $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 1992, Taiwan's Board of Foreign Trade said. And China said yesterday that six government scientists would travel to Taiwan in June, becoming the first mainland delegation to visi t the Nationalist-ruled island since the 1949 communist revolution.... The Hong Kong Economic Times said China plans to build a second nuclear power plant in the southern province of Guangdong, near the Shantou special economic zone, which is less than 200 miles from Hong Kong. It will be China's fourth nuclear plant.... A Chinese-Hong Kong joint venture, APT Satellite Company Ltd., plans to spend $200 million to buy two communications satellites from Hughes Communications International. EUROPE

Low turnout helped defeat a referendum to create a state presidency in Lithuania, a blow to Parliament Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis, who had pushed for strong executive powers. Conservative factions in the Parliament have boycotted recent sessions to prevent the body from reaching a quorum on some government programs. Landsbergis has argued that a strong presidency is needed to carry out economic and political reforms.... Outraged by the killing of top judge Giovanni Falcone Saturday - the worst Mafia a ssassination in a decade - Italians are demanding a stiff crackdown on the mob.... Career diplomat and political independent Thomas Klestil won a landslide runoff victory to replace Austria's President Kurt Waldheim, the former UN secretary-general whose suspected Nazi past had isolated Austria diplomatically. In a country where party-line policies permeate almost all walks of life, Klestil's success is seen as a watershed.